As former pastors of churches, it was always crazy amazing to me to observe a family who rarely agreed on anything, quarreled consistently, and mocked each other to suddenly come together when an “outsider” questions them in a spirit of love with the desire to settle their anger with counsel in with ways to overcome the fighting with words of truth. 

Ask any police officer.  When police officers are called to settle a domestic dispute gone wild to the point that neighbors report it, they know it will be a wild ride. I’ve been told they would rather stop an armed robbery or break up a drug deal than go to a domestic dispute.  Here is typically what will happen: A husband could be shouting and beating on his wife while the wife is shouting at the kids; but when police enter in and try to bring peace to the battlefield, the husband and wife and kids will all turn on the officers of peace. Domestic disputes are the most volatile and dangerous calls for our officers.

I think of these situations as we read and observe how most of the religious leaders who debate The Law of God daily and disagree with each other with emotional arguments now come together to claim Jesus is their common enemy.  These leaders, who have all but forgotten who God is, cannot accept the Jesus is the Messiah.  Jesus, Prince of Peace, has been sent by God to save their souls.  The religious leaders unite to not only refuse what He says, who He is, or what He does; they are blinded to the glory of God in the flesh standing right in front of them—the Promised One they have read about and say they long for—Messiah come! 

The Pharisees, Teachers, and other religious leaders now agree with one thought:  We must kill our “common enemy” who is gaining more followers each day as He mesmerizes the crowds who are not as “educated” as we are!  “The Pharisees, alarmed at this seditious undertow going through the crowd, teamed up with the high priests and sent their police to arrest him.  

John 7, The Message

Could It Be the Messiah?

^14-15 With the Feast already half over, Jesus showed up in the Temple, teaching. The Jews were impressed, but puzzled: “How does he know so much without being schooled?”

^16-19 Jesus said, “I didn’t make this up. What I teach comes from the One who sent me. Anyone who wants to do his will can test this teaching and know whether it’s from God or whether I’m making it up. A person making things up tries to make himself look good. But someone trying to honor the one who sent him sticks to the facts and doesn’t tamper with reality. It was Moses, wasn’t it, who gave you God’s Law? But none of you are living it. So why are you trying to kill me?”

²⁰ The crowd said, “You’re crazy! Who’s trying to kill you? You’re demon-possessed.”

^21-24 Jesus said, “I did one miraculous thing a few months ago, and you’re still standing around getting all upset, wondering what I’m up to. Moses prescribed circumcision—originally it came not from Moses but from his ancestors—and so you circumcise a man, dealing with one part of his body, even if it’s the Sabbath. You do this in order to preserve one item in the Law of Moses. So why are you upset with me because I made a man’s whole body well on the Sabbath? Don’t be hypercritical; use your head—and heart!—to discern what is right, to test what is authentically right.”

^25-27 That’s when some of the people of Jerusalem said, “Isn’t this the one they were out to kill? And here he is out in the open, saying whatever he pleases, and no one is stopping him. Could it be that the rulers know that he is, in fact, the Messiah? And yet we know where this man came from. The Messiah is going to come out of nowhere. Nobody is going to know where he comes from.”

^28-29 That provoked Jesus, who was teaching in the Temple, to cry out, “Yes, you think you know me and where I’m from, but that’s not where I’m from. I didn’t set myself up in business. My true origin is in the One who sent me, and you don’t know him at all. I come from him—that’s how I know him. He sent me here.”

^30-31 They were looking for a way to arrest him, but not a hand was laid on him because it wasn’t yet God’s time. Many from the crowd committed themselves in faith to him, saying, “Will the Messiah, when he comes, provide better or more convincing evidence than this?”

^32-34 The Pharisees, alarmed at this seditious undertow going through the crowd, teamed up with the high priests and sent their police to arrest him. Jesus rebuffed them: “I am with you only a short time. Then I go on to the One who sent me. You will look for me, but you won’t find me. Where I am, you can’t come.”

^35-36 The Jews put their heads together. “Where do you think he is going that we won’t be able to find him? Do you think he is about to travel to the Greek world to teach the Jews? What is he talking about, anyway: ‘You will look for me, but you won’t find me,’ and ‘Where I am, you can’t come’?”

^37-39 On the final and climactic day of the Feast, Jesus took his stand. He cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me this way, just as the Scripture says.” (He said this in regard to the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were about to receive. The Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified.)

^40-44 Those in the crowd who heard these words were saying, “This has to be the Prophet.” Others said, “He is the Messiah!” But others were saying, “The Messiah doesn’t come from Galilee, does he? Don’t the Scriptures tell us that the Messiah comes from David’s line and from Bethlehem, David’s village?” So there was a split in the crowd over him. Some went so far as wanting to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him.

⁴⁵ That’s when the Temple police reported back to the high priests and Pharisees, who demanded, “Why didn’t you bring him with you?”

⁴⁶ The police answered, “Have you heard the way he talks? We’ve never heard anyone speak like this man.”

^47-49 The Pharisees said, “Are you carried away like the rest of the rabble? You don’t see any of the leaders believing in him, do you? Or any from the Pharisees? It’s only this crowd, ignorant of God’s Law, that is taken in by him—and damned.”

^50-51 Nicodemus, the man who had come to Jesus earlier and was both a ruler and a Pharisee, spoke up. “Does our Law decide about a man’s guilt without first listening to him and finding out what he is doing?”

^52-53 But they cut him off. “Are you also campaigning for the Galilean? Examine the evidence. See if any prophet ever comes from Galilee.”

Then they all went home.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Blood is thicker than water is a proverb in English meaning that familial bonds will always be stronger than other relationships. Is blood thicker than water in this situation?  As our theology is presented with Truth of Jesus, do we come together with others to agree that He is the Messiah, come to save us of our sins; or is Jesus the common enemy who challenges our status quo with a new way of thinking and behaving?  It depends on our relationship with Jesus.  Who is our real family? 

From past experience, true believers in Jesus, who shed his blood so that we could become children of God in His family, are most often closer than any earthly family member.  This bond of “blood” is closer, thicker, stronger, reliable, and dependable and lasts forever!

All I know is, once I was blind but now I see. His blood was shed for my sins.  His blood was shed for the sins of the world.  It is Jesus who brings us together as one in unity of purpose—so others will know and be rescued and redeemed, too.  It is His blood that makes us family, brothers and sisters, joint heirs with Christ in the eyes of God.

Now, Who is Jesus?  Pause to pray and listen to His Holy Spirit.  Is Jesus Truth?  Do I really believe what Jesus did and why He did it—really real?  Is Jesus, undoubtedly and undisputedly Messiah to me—the One and Only who saved me and set me free? 

Lord,

You save us and make us whole.  You bring all who believe with repentance together in unity of Spirit and Truth.  We love because you first loved us.  We forgive because you forgave us.  It’s all about you, dear Jesus!  You not only save us, you change our minds with the power to transform our behaviors to be more like you in every way! There is no one like You!  You are Messiah!  You are Lord of my Life because you are Life!

In Jesus Name, Amen